


Dermatillomania

by c0cunt



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Blood, Compulsive skin picking, Dermatillomania, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-27
Updated: 2016-09-27
Packaged: 2018-08-18 04:04:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8148551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c0cunt/pseuds/c0cunt
Summary: The repetitive picking at one's skin, to the extent of causing damage.  Usually focused on the person's face, but other areas can be affected.





	

**Author's Note:**

> so. uh.  
> don't really have anything to say on this one.  
> i've been anxiety picking a lot lately, so now jean is suffering with me  
> (i didn't know what rating to put on this so i put teen bc of the picking and that squicks people sometimes)

  Jean knew that what he was doing wasn't a good for him, as he watched blood slowly bubble up from where his nails had dug into another itchy scab.   _A compulsion,_ his doctor had tried to explain to his mom once,  _it's in his brain._  Jean knew she couldn't understand, just like how he couldn't understand her need to lock and unlock the front door five times whenever she left the house and whenever she came home.  But at least she tried, taking him to doctors who all tried to coax him into trying a new medication, into doing something else with his hands when the overwhelming  _need_ to scratch the semi-healed scabs all along his legs started.

  Jean hesitantly poked at the bloody spot on his right leg, hoping that it had hardened enough to scratch off again.  It hadn't, and the perfectly bubbled blood of the scab-to-be was ruined.  He sighed, and straightened his leg out along his bed, focusing on the scabs on his left leg.  The left had many more scars than the right, a longer testament to the damage that Jean had done to himself, with scabs of varying sizes trailing from mid-thigh, down to his bony ankle.

  Almost as soon as his attention turned to his left leg, his nails were digging into the edges of a scab.  The one furthest up on his leg currently, from when he had gotten into a fight with Eren two days ago, and somehow gotten a scratch deep enough to bleed.  Jean gritted his teeth against the dull pain, as the old scab came off in flakes, and new blood welled around his nail.  The ones that flaked annoyed Jean the most, and he bared his teeth at the smearing blood, determined to scratch the entire old scab out.  There was  _one_ stubborn scab bit, clinging to the edge of healthy skin, unwilling to be scratched out of existence.  But Jean's determination was stronger than a tiny scab bit, and it eventually conceded defeat, surrendering to the nail of Jean's middle finger.  He let out a triumphant hum, before leaning further down his leg, to reach the next scab.

  That's how he continued, for a little while.  There were currently only four scabs on his left leg, and the one on his right, and Jean's bare chest was smeared with drying blood from the uppermost gash on his left leg by the time he was done.  Thankfully, the need to scratch was quieted, for now.

  Jean glanced around his bedroom furtively, before snatching up his oldest pair of jeans, that he kept folded neatly on his bedside table.  They were lightly stained roughly everywhere, spots and lines vaguely mapping out where blood had bubbled up from scabs underneath.  They were almost uncomfortably tight roughly everywhere - they had, after all, been from when Jean had hit his final growth spurt three years ago.  There was a lot of bloody history held within that fabric, with more history slowly seeping into it from the newly opened scrapes on his legs.

  That was enough of that for now.  Jean slowly stretched to his full height, arms reaching towards the ceiling.  He shook his head, as if to deter an annoying bug flying around his ears, and then began the rest of his morning habits.  He could go about his day, at least until the urge to pick started up again.


End file.
